Drivers can expect more potholes when spring arrives

ARENAC COUNTY — When the snow and ice finally melt away from the roadways, a new obstacle is likely to be facing drivers — potholes.

Road Commission Superintendent Blair Dyer said the rough winter will create some rough road conditions in the early spring.

“What happens is a lot of times the salt we put on this highway and with the cracks in the pavement, the water gets down in there and it freezes,” he said. “That ice actually pops the particles of blacktop apart.”

“All it takes is for that water to get in there and freeze and it just blows it right out of there,” Dyer said.

Existing potholes in the roads grow due to the water freezing and expanding in the winter, and traffic over the holes compounds the issue even more, according to Dyer.

“The cars, as they start hitting it, they hammer it out even more,” he said. “That’s why it’s important to get to them.”